Tempest Vermilion
Tempest Vermilion was an earlier sister unit to Crimson Typhoon, and a Mark 3 Jaeger. It was primarily stationed at the Hong Kong Shatterdome throughout its operational history. Multiple conspiracies surround its history, ranging from mission sabotage to suppression of information. Construction Tempest was launched on March 20th of 2017, as the sister/predecessor unit of Crimson Typhoon, soon to be constructed the following year. Tempest was intended to be a testbed for multiple sophisticated systems that would be mounted on the Mark 4 line, as well as being a proper combat ready Jaeger in its own right. Quadruplet team Xiao Hanyu, Xiao Alix, Xiao Yan & Xiao Feng were the aspiring rangers chosen for the 4 armed machine, as quadruplet teams were rare. This team lent their strengths to secure 2 Kaiju kills during the war, but were plagued by a string of tragedies. Combat History Hinigami The CAT II Hinigami breached on May 11th, 2017. K-Watch predicted it would head for Guam, prompting the deployment of Romeo Blue and Horizon Brave to the island. Hinigami, to the relief of Guam's inhabitants, then took a hard left, striking out towards the Philippines. Romeo and Horizons pilots wanted to pursue, but the only way they could catch up to the wily Kaiju would be an airlift, and a large typhoon rendered that unlikely. Tempest and Shaolin Rogue, another new Chinese Mark 3, were deployed in the predicted path of Hinigami. Shaolin, with a design more focused on ocean combat, took the lead as Tempest waited around 10 miles back in case Hinigami fled once again. Shaolin and Hinigami clashed in the waters offshore Catanduanes Island, both struggling to gain the upper hand. Hinigami was extremely slippery and flexible, and Shaolin couldn't land a solid hit with its lance. Eventually after around an hour, just as the Jaeger was about to impale the beasts skull, Hinigami slipped out of Shaolins grasp. It then grappled the aquatic titan from behind, and hurled it out of the water, sending it crashing onto the beach. It then sped away towards China with negligible injuries. As the CAT II surged up the Taiwan strait, Tempest was being airlifted over the South China Sea. Unfortunately, Hinigami had finally chosen his target: the city of Xiamen. Tempest was still 30 minutes away when the Kaiju smashed into the financial district like a malevolent tidal wave, sweeping aside bridges, bursting open buildings and crushing roads full of vehicles; Hinigami had exploded in speed when it approached the Taiwan strait, meaning Xiamens evacuation was only 70% complete at the time. Tempest dropped in the middle of Xiamen Island, where Hinigami had gleefully rampaged for half an hour. Hinigami quickly turned to confront his opponent, and the kaiju leapfrogged off a building onto the Jaeger. Tempest delivered its Quadruple Uppercut, which threw the Kaiju back, but dealt little visible damage. Tempest lunged at the dazed Kaiju, and so began a grapple for supremacy, as Hinigami used its elusive tactics against Tempest, dragging out the fight for 2 hours. As dawn broke, the battle finally culminated with the exhausted Kaiju making a final attack on the well protected Conn-pod. Fending off Hinigami with its two right arms, Tempest engaged its left side Dragon Claws. As the buzzsaws whirred to life, Hanyu and Alix used their right arms to pin Hinigami to the ground, and brought down the spinning blades on the kaiju's chest and neck, splitting open the ribcage and throat with one swift movement. A later autopsy of the Kaiju's corpse showed that Hinigami's bone structure was unlike any other Kaiju that came before. Consisting of a substance similar to a durable plastic, this explained how light the Kaiju was, its flexibility, its resistance to impact based attacks, and why Tempest's sawblades were so effective at cutting through it. Despite the victory, it came at great cost. Hinigami had crippled Xiamen as a city, destroying the seaport as it entered, demolishing the main financial district and causing immense damage to the Gaoqi International Airport. This as well as the earlier bout with Shaolin Rogue and the casualties from the attack reaching over 1,000 caused the Hinigami incident to be viewed as a failure on the part of the PPDC. The PPDC and the Chinese government were justifiably eager to sweep away Tempest, as Crimson Typhoon quickly became China's flagship Jaeger over the next three years, securing multiple kills and winning back the public's trust in the PPDC. Tempest was pushed into the background, as a "support" Jaeger, used for things such as construction. Its pilots were obviously frustrated. They had far more to offer than menial service. Horrorwing However, as waves of devastating attacks began to descend on the Pacific Rim, the team got the chance to prove themselves again. Crimson Typhoon and Horizon Brave had sustained heavy damage from a battle with the Kaiju Hidoi at Bangkok and Shaolin Rogue was undergoing a major refit. This left Tempest as the sole defender of the Chinese coast when a CAT III monster tore itself free of the Breach. A sighting off the Marianas Islands lead to the initial name, Batears, due to its membranous, clawed arms and crowned head. Tacit Ronin and Tempest Vermilion were Jumphawked outwards towards Taipei, the city that Batears was heading for. Tempest was first to arrive, positioning itself on the Miracle Mile northeast of Taipei. Tacit was only 6 miles out, and was close enough to be seen from the coastline. Suddenly, a haunting winged shape loomed out of the nearby cloud cover, and easily crushed the Jumphawks carrying Ronin. The Kaiju detection systems utilised around the Pacific Rim registered things like radiation, but primarily measured water displacement, as Kaiju always swam to their chosen target. Unbeknownst to Tempest or the PPDC, Batears had taken flight around the Ryukyu Islands, where an electrical storm provided perfect cover, and made K-Watch believe it was simply interfering with the water displacement sensors. Tempest could do little but watch as Batears, now rechristened Horrorwing, had hold of the cables attached to Tacit Ronin, and swooped over the urban buildings, slamming the Mark 1 into them like a 2,000 ton wrecking ball. One of Tempest's major flaws is that it mounted no ranged weaponry, something dearly regretted by the 4 pilots as they chased after Horrorwing through the half evacuated streets of Taipei for 20 minutes. Tacit struggled helplessly, unable to bring its blades or guns to bear as the Kaiju shifted its grip, letting go temporarily in order to readjust its grip to Tacit's thin waist. Alarms within its Conn-Pod blared as the Jaeger was pushed beyond its structural limit. Tacit Ronin was torn asunder 3,000 feet above Taipei, irradiating 30% of the city, and her halves were deposited into its skyline. The pilots of Tempest were enraged that they allowed something like that to happen, so a rash decision was made. Horrorwing had seemingly forgotten about Tempest, perching atop the Shin Kong Life tower and resting after the physical exertion of carrying Ronin. This was all the Jaeger needed. The Mark 3 pushed out all the speed it could muster, and began to scale the 1120m Qixing Mountain, only a few miles from the city. This regained the Kaiju's attention, and it pushed off the tower, soaring towards its adversary. Horrorwing wasn't too fast in the air, leaving plenty of time for Tempest to reach Qixings summit. Horrorwing swooped low to build up speed, and opened its terrifying maw, full of blades and tendrils like an organic shredder, intending to consume Tempest whole. The Jaeger activated its Quad Thrusters at full power, and jumped. Tempest's Dragon Claws latched on the sides of Horrorwing's gaping maw, much to the Kaiju's annoyance. The two tussled for control, as the CAT III fell around 700 feet before regaining stability. In order to finally bring the monstrous bat down, the Rangers let its upper left arm down and engaged its sawblade. The blade easily cut through the thin fibres but didn't have enough reach to cut off the wing entirely. Horrorwing flew low over the skyline, crashing Tempest's back over the top of them in an attempt make the Jaeger let go. After this attack caused damage but the Jaeger didn't budge, the Kaiju then decided to slam itself and its enemy into Taipei 101, the largest building it could see. In a desperate attempt to avoid Taipei 101 and kill Horrorwing, the Rangers vented reactor exhaust out of Tempest's right side boosters, the only ones still functioning, and caused both of them to enter into a wild spin. The falling amalgamation of Jaeger and Kaiju clipped Taipei, taking a noticeable piece out of the skyscraper, but it remained standing. The Kaiju was flipped over, and took the brunt of the injuries as Tempest used it to cushion the impact into several building complexes and finally coming to a stop on Jilong Road, discarding both combatants. Tempest was up first, and slashed out Horrorwing's eyes, followed by a savage combination of spinning blades raking across the Kaiju's visage. Both of its fragile wings had been broken in the fall, one snapped completely off, and the other hanging by a loose collection of tendons and bone fragments, leaving no way for it to escape. Horrorwing tried to fight back, but this was of little use, and it was promptly hacked to death. The Horrorwing attack was an utter disaster. One Jaeger destroyed, its reactor components+Kaiju blue sprinkled across the city causing thousands of deaths in the next few weeks and months, the reveal of flying Kaiju, and $4 billion dollars in property damage, enough to build another Taipei 101. With the radioactive elements everywhere, and the amount of damage done, it was almost like a low grade nuclear attack, the exact thing the Jaegers were made to replace. Despite the damage to the Jaeger being fixable, the public outcry caused Tempest to be decommissioned, and its pilots lived in shame for the next 3 years. Destruction 2024 was the dark before the dawn, the worst year of the Kaiju War. Jaegers fell across the rim as CAT IIIs and IVs poured from the Breach every couple of weeks. This Year of Hell was kicked off on January 2nd, 2024 when SH-24, better known as "Dante" emerged from the Pacific. Tempest Vermilion had lain within the Hong Kong Shattterdome for 3 years, only slightly repaired from its last battle. It was intended to be slowly dissected for spare parts in order to aid the suffering Jaegers around the rim, but it remained somewhat intact aside from its upper left arm being stripped of its muscle fibres. Its pilots, the Xiao siblings had fared much worse. Belittled on all sides, the four had lived a life of misery, and were widely considered by the public to be the worst rangers in the history of the PPDC. But the Xiaos still had fight left in them. And when the four were allowed via request to visit the Hong Kong Shatterdome to see Tempest one last time before she was completely scrapped, and news of a Category IV Kaiju reached K-Watch, it seemed like fate had given them one last chance. One of the only cases of severe insubordination within the PPDC occurred. The Xiao family wanted to help their children regain their honor, and they had people on the inside. Like any organization, the PPDC was not impervious to corruption. Before Crimson Typhoon could be scrambled out of the Shatterdome, unauthorized skeleton crews began to reactivate Tempest and open security areas. With only 3 arms operational, and 2 boosters completely shot, Tempest was airlifted by hijacked Jumphawks out towards the East China Sea. LOCCENT let them go. After all, one more Jaeger on the mission couldn't hurt. 5 minutes after, Crimson Typhoon and Shaolin Rogue were airlifted towards Shanghai, the city on Dante's path. Tempest met Dante after the Kaiju had cleared the Ryukyu Islands and the Okinawa Trough, ignoring the islands completely on its single minded crusade to Shanghai. The Jaeger was not suited to underwater combat, but neither was its opponent. Dante sported a bovine/goatlike design with four legs, the back two were muscular, and had hooked hooves. The front legs were bladed, with triple points like those of a trident, as well as curved horns and a long tail. The sharp front legs did not lend themselves well to swimming, and when Dante walked along the seabed, they would often sink into the silty surface. When Tempest encountered the Kaiju at a 300m depth, the two engaged in cumbersome aquatic combat. Tempest used its rockets to spin and maneuver around Dante, cutting deep gashes into its legs and chest with its 3 remaining sawblades. After an hour of savage hit and run fighting in the murky waters, Tempest's partly repaired state began to become apparent. Sparks flew about the Conn-Pod, as red lights blared, signalling that the oxygen levels were dropping below 20%. As a four person rig, Tempest consumed oxygen twice as fast as any other Jaeger. But still the siblings fought. Pressed on by their all-consuming drive to redeem themselves, Feng utilized the upper left limb as a decoy, using the few muscle fibres left to raise the arm as Dante took the bait and attacked out of the depths, shearing off the arm but leaving its side exposed to a dual right arm slash into its belly. Dante roared in anger and gave a steel-shattering kick straight into Tempests torso, crumpling the armour and sending the Jaeger sprawling into the seabed. With water beginning to flood the chest cavity, Yan, Feng, Hanyu and Alix knew that this would be their last stand. Dante surged forward again, intending to impale the Jaeger with its forelimbs. This half worked. The left arm found its mark, sinking painfully into the side of Tempest's torso, and tearing away its entire shoulder. But the right blades had taken too many blows during the fight, and while it too ate into the torso, the blades had shattered on impact, leaving only jagged stumps. Tempest had also gripped onto the left forearm, and activating its boosters for the final time, slammed the CAT IV into the seabed, breaking the leg and rendering it useless. Dante angrily stabbed its horns into the Conn-pod, ripping it off completely. Tempest Vermilion was lost with all hands. When Dante finally surfaced off Shanghai's Miracle Mile 5 hours later, it didn't look so good. The left front leg was completely broken, its limp form twisting painfully with each step. The other remaining three-pronged blade had been totaled, Its main horns were blunted and cracked, and its body was littered with luminescent lacerations. The Kaiju's walking ability was so stunted, and body so tired from the earlier battle that it could barely move, but still limped on out of sheer aggression. Dante's head was blown off on Shanghai's Miracle Mile by Crimson Typhoon. Specifications Tempest's most obvious anatomical trait is its four arms. This required a four person rig to properly operate, something that had never been done before. Various other computer systems needed to be installed, both to test them for the Mark 4 line, and to supplement the PONS system. Speed Tempest had formidable fighting and movement speed, aided by its 4//KoP Rocket Boosters. A more advanced version of this equipment was later mounted on Crimson Typhoon. A large weakness was its field of view, hindered by the large bands of armour on either side of the Conn-pod. Strength Tempest's strength and odd design was well suited to its close combat style of grappling and wrestling. This was effective at overpowering the CAT IIs and IIIs that were most prevalent throughout the war, even proving itself capable of holding its own against a CAT IV. Armour Tempest Vermilion's armour was overall mediocre, as it needed to be for additional agility. It's most well armoured areas were the legs and Conn-pod, the two areas that if damaged, often quickly ended a fight. Armament Tempest's only offensive weapons were its OSIHI Dragon Claw Fists. These had an extraordinary grip strength of over 2,000 tons, able to crush bone and grip onto the most slippery of Kaiju. The fingers could also become rotary blades, and span at around 18,000 rpm. Notes and References * (all art is owned by their respective creators, i do not own them. The art used for Hinigami was created and owned by SlongsongKosong on DeviantArt, the art for Dante was created and owned by Gabriel Forbes while the art used for Horrorwing and Tempest Vermilion is created and owned by Legendary) = = Category:Mark III Category:Fan-made Jaegers